Thursday, February 16, 2017

Irwin Allen’s Lost in Space - The Biography of a Classic Sci-Fi Series, Volume 3

Irwin Allen’s Lost in Space
The Biography of a Classic Sci-Fi Series, Volume 3

Written by Marc Cushman
Forewords by Mark Goddard and Marta Kristen
Edited by Mark Alfred

Soft Cover - Ship date: February 9th 2017

Lost in Space was the first prime time weekly television series to take viewers into outer space’s strange new alien worlds – something the networks believed impossible on a TV budget and schedule. In this exciting new book series, you are whisked back in time to the production offices, writers’ conferences, and sound stages for the making of this iconic series. Included are hundreds of memos between creator/producer Irwin Allen and his staff; production schedules; budgets; fan letters; more than 500 rare behind-the-scene images in each volume; and the TV ratings for every episode.

In Volume 1, author Marc Cushman documented Irwin Allen's early career – a true rags-to-riches story, as Allen ventured from a humble beginning in the Bronx to his later incarnations in Hollywood as an entertainment journalist, radio and television host, and a literary agent – all before becoming a successful motion picture producer and director. After winning an Academy Award in 1954, Allen entered the fantasy genre with films such as The Lost World and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He then rolled the dice again with a move into television, creating and producing Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea for the fall of 1964 and, one year later, Lost in Space.

In Volume 2, the story continues with Lost in Space's second season and a switch to color. But it has a tough new rival in space – NBC-TV's Star Trek. On Wednesday nights opposite Space, the red-hot Batman provides formidable competition in the ratings game. Paradoxically, CBS seems intent on sabotaging Allen, pressuring him to make the series more cheaply and change it from science fiction, action/adventure to camp/fantasy.

In Volume 3, the story continues. The ratings continue to be strong, and many of the episodes are returning to the 'serious' format of the early first season. An order is placed by the network for a fourth season, and scripts are being written ... but that fourth year would never be realized.

Now, after nearly 50 years, the reasons for the sudden end of this iconic series that pre-dated Star Trek are revealed. But there is much more. Travel along with the Robinson family -- the stars of Lost in Space who truly had become as a family to one another -- through the reunions, the conventions, the efforts by Irwin Allen to make a big-screen big-budget feature film with his stars, then a pilot for CBS, then one for NBC, and, finally, on the doorsteps of the new Netflix series due in early 2018.

This story didn't end in 1968 when the original series went out of production. The space Family Robinson did make it home, and they are here to tell you their story.

Remarkably, the most dangerous monsters of Lost in Space lurked behind the scenes … and wore business suits.

The story of the making of the classic Lost in Space is rich with conflict, drama and surprises. And now you can be there to see it unfold.